2/05/2008

Breaking Earth NewsBBC News Many of Earth's climate systems will undergo a series of SUDDEN SHIFTS this centuryas a result of human-induced climate change, a study suggests. They argue that society should not be lulled into a false sense of security by the idea that climate change will be a gradual process. "The greatest threats are tipping of the Arctic sea-ice and the Greenland ice sheet, and at least five other elements could surprise us by exhibiting a nearby tipping point." Global warming has begun to affect some aspects of our climate, but that change is THE START OF A SERIES OF MORE DRAMATIC CHANGES if global warming continues. A number of systems that influence the Earth's weather patterns COULD BEGIN TO COLLAPSE SUDDENLY if there's even a slight increase in global temperatures. The nine ecological systems that they say could be lost this century and the time it will take them to undergo a major transition are as follows:

*Collapse of the Indian summer monsoon (about 1 year)*Melting of Arctic sea-ice (about 10 years)*Greening of the Sahara/Sahel and disruption of the West African monsoon (about 10 years)*Dieback of the Amazon rainforest (about 50 years)*Dieback of the Boreal Forest (about 50 years)*Collapse of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (about 100 years)*Increase in the El Nino Southern Oscillation (about 100 years)*Decay of the Greenland ice sheet (about 300 years)*Collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet (about 300 years)